The Body in the Garden pictures
Here are some pictures I took during the Adelaide Body in the Garden festival. The opening address was at Edler Hall, one of the city’s famous sandstone buildings.
The Body in the Garden festival
Last weekend, in a highly nervous state, I flew to Adelaide to speak at a writers festival for garden writers, and crime writers. This was my first writers festival as an author. I’ve attended many as a reader, so it was a thrill to be sitting up the front next to some of the most…
Book Review: What Was Left
What Was Left, Eleanor Limprecht (Sleepers, 2013) This novel is written by a dear friend of mine and I have read it several times, in various drafts. The author (American-born, Sydney-based) Eleanor Limprecht had a succinct vision for this novel from the start, and the narrative ambition did not alter much during the redrafting, it…
Book Review: Mr Wigg by Inga Simpson
Mr Wigg, Inga Simpson, Hachette Australia, $29.95 Mr Wigg is a novel that reminds the reader of simple, luxurious pleasures and there were several things I could not resist doing, in between reading this story. I opened a jar of home-made raspberry jam I bought from a fete and spread it on bread and enjoyed it with…
Book Review: Inheritance by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Earlier this year, in The Monthly, I read Peter Pierce’s excellent review of Inheritance and I promptly bought myself a copy. Balli Kaur Jaswal’s Inheritance is published by Sleepers, an independent publisher based in Melbourne, who favor writers who are unique. After writing part of my Creative Writing Masters exegesis on The Danger Game…
Kangaroos, koalas and a fake shark
Here are some pics from our recent family holiday at Noosa. Located in the rainforest in south-east Queensland, it is a beautiful beach area where you can find untouched national park with koalas sleeping in the gum trees, amazing restaurants and bookshops, top fishing and great surf. I got sidetracked as we were driving there…
Softcover Publication Day: UK
Look what I found on my doorstep when I came home on Friday! How generous is my publisher, Headline! They could send me nothing and I would still be enamoured by them – yet the send me the most beautiful bunch of flowers to celebrate the softcover edition publication in the UK of the Bay…
Cooking for the Kindy Fete
Yesterday, while my husband was at Noosa having a weekend away with his friends, I made chutney, something I have always wanted to make. It was fun. Thankfully my kids helped me with some of the preparation. Miles chopped tomatos… Scarlett chopped garlic… They both peeled the garlic… My stove top is old and only…
Something Rotten in the Apple Isle
What do these three books have in common? The answer is, they are all Tasmanian murder mysteries published this year. The two authors, Livia Day and Josephine Pennicott, and I will appear at a book event on June 14 in Melbourne. It is called Something Rotten in the Apple Isle and it’s going to be…
The Australian reviews Bay of Fires
What a surprise I received on Saturday when I sat down in my local cafe, Salt, and opened The Weekend Australian. As usual, I turned straight to the Review section. On a lovely right hand page beneath a headline that announced New Australian Fiction, was a bright image of my novel Bay of Fires, and…